Shin Persona Evangelion

by Ultra Sonic 007

Shinji Ikari stared, bewildered by the bizarre-looking man, who gave an intrigued smile. "An interesting guest has arrived. My name is Igor. Welcome to the Velvet Room, young fool...we have important matters to discuss, you and I." (A fusion of the realms of Evangelion and Persona, where not all is as it seems.) (Cover art by Renu of the Sufficient Velocity forums.)

86. Friday - August 21, 2015: Part 1

Sokila quietly fiddled with an Agathion Persona that had been summoned by Elizabeth.

"Burning bodies...and puttin' their ashes in a jar...only to blow 'em up...?"

She looked rather confused, even as she wiggled the jar back and forth.

"...I don't get it. Why wouldn't you wanna keep them around, so you can always see 'em...?"

With a chirp of irritation, Agathion's blue head poked out of the urn, chomping down onto her hand.

"ACK!"

Yelping with unexpected pain, Sokila smashed the Agathion onto the ground, raising her free hand up impulsively. "Megido!"

There was a burst of non-elemental energy, dissipating not only the Persona...but also a good chunk of her drawings. "NO! MY PICTURES!"

Elizabeth, naturally, focused on the entirely wrong thing. "Your very first Almighty Skill! Well done!"

Sokila looked at some of the papers that had been vaporized — of Shinji Ikari giving the strange girl with a naginata a hug; of a redhead and a nun driving through a desert; of the shoreline to an orange sea where three indistinct people stood beneath the sunset's light; all that and more — and began to wail(?!).

From the open-air kitchen, Theodore poked his head out. "Sister, what did you do?!"

Elizabeth, seemingly disarmed by Sokila's crying, replied, "I'm unsure if Me Patra will cure this unusual Ailment-"

At that precise moment, the ominous visage of Evangelion Unit-01's head appeared in the darkness, looming from the balcony seats; its blank eyes

somehow narrowed upon Elizabeth.

"...oh my."

Unit-01 growled once (a palpable warning, delivered with deathly intent) before departing, vanishing whence it came.

Theo gulped. "That...is probably a sign to control yourself, dear sister."

Elizabeth poked her head out from behind her brother, having bravely hidden behind him. "I find myself in the unenviable position of agreeing with you, dear Theo."

All the while, Lavenza had come to Sokila's assistance, kneeling down beside the teary-eyed girl. "Is there a way I can help?"

"...I never had my pictures thrown away before...but now they're gone..."

"So long as you remember the image, you can recreate it, can't you?"

"...I guess...?"

Lavenza took the younger girl's hand. "Here. Perhaps we can try painting?"

"...but it's not with crayons..."

"Well, you can use my face, much like Kuchisake-onna used my brother's face. And I can assure you that my face is much tougher than paper."

"...okay..."

On the stage of the auditorium, Margaret shook her head at her siblings' antics, whilst Igor merely chuckled. "An impulsive need to protect...even your dark side can act virtuously, if the need arises, hmm...?"

The faint haze of blue began to brighten-

xxxx

/Friday: August 21, 2015/

/Sojiro Sakura's Residence, Nishiawakura, Okayama Prefecture/

Shinji Ikari slowly opened his eyes, blinking confusedly. That...was a weird dream. Why did he feel both irritated and satisfied simultaneously?

At the moment, the door to his room slid open, revealing Sojiro Sakura. "Time to wake up, kid."

"Huh? What's...?"

"You've got a long drive to Tokyo-2 ahead of you, so you might want to get ready."

xxxx

The decision to drive to Tokyo-2 (instead of taking train, or airline, or by quickly travelling through the Metaverse) had been calculated on the part of Kurosawa.

There was a degree of liberty involved with the action of driving, in that they would not be beholden to the restrictions of flight and rail. Even if it was only a minor means of psychological pacification, every little bit helped.

Metaverse travel had been verboten outright by his superiors, because arrival within the cognitive world carried...the potential for offensive maneuvers, or so the argument had gone. (How shortsighted; the Third Child's capabilities were deadly both in reality and in cognition. Did they think he was suddenly going to start rampaging upon arrival?)

(You would have had the same concern before your interviews.)

Plus...there was an odd feeling of sorts, that he couldn't quite pin down. (Something deep down, telling him to be more...proactive. About something. But what? It was as if haste would be dangerous for them.)

"In the interest of efficiency, it would be best for you all to take the HiAce," said Kurosawa, speaking to the cluster of people gathered at the bottom of the front stairway; the sky was just beginning to brighten, for the sun had yet to rise above the horizon. "I'll follow in my vehicle; assuming one or two stops, we should make it to Tokyo-2 by this afternoon."

"You know we're gonna have to come back to get our own vehicles eventually," griped Ryuji, leaning more heavily on his cane. Ren and Misato were busy piling their luggage into the back of the van, while the other teens were busy trying not to fall asleep while standing up.

"You're not going to be held indefinitely in Tokyo-2, Sakamoto-san," stressed Kurosawa. "There's simply going to be a change of strategy and tactics with regards to how we deal with the variety of paranormal and supernatural threats facing Japan."

(Ren, walking past Kurosawa with his luggage and Aida's in hand, snorted under his breath.)

Toji took this opportunity to yawn widely. "Can't...we like...get there quickly using the..." Another yawn, which he barely remembered to cover with a hand. "...Metaverse...?"

"Out of the question. We're expected to arrive in the real world, so we can be processed appropriately." Kurosawa didn't miss how Sakamoto rolled his eyes at the rationale. "Your first debriefing with my seniors in the NPA is scheduled for tomorrow morning, so let's not tarry."

This time, Kensuke was the one who yawned. "If it's not 'til tomorrow, why do we have to leave so early...?"

"Because knowing the personalities of the Feathermen and the Emporium, you would all likely get wound up in some shenanigans of a sort, delaying us further," explained Kurosawa. "Hence why we're leaving before they wake up."

"...I guess that's fair," sleepily murmured Kensuke, accepting his point.

"Say your farewells if you must," said Kurosawa, looking specifically in Ikari's direction. "We'll stop for our first meal once we're at least past Hyogo Prefecture." Walking down the hill towards his Corolla, Kurosawa heard faltering footsteps from behind. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Sakamoto following him. "What is it?"

"I'm taking shotgun. The van's gonna be crowded enough without my crippled ass taking up more room."

"...very well." Sakamoto's suspicion and quiet antagonism would be easy enough to deal with for the duration.

xx

Shinji turned back towards his old custodian, only to blink as a thermos and small plastic bag full of snacks were pushed into his hands. "Sensei?"

"A fresh brew and some food for you and your friends. Don't know when exactly you'll stop."

"...thank you." Bowing, he added, "I'm sorry for all the trouble we brought to your home."

"Enough with that stuff; it's not like you would have brought it here if you could help here. Either way...my home's open to you, if you ever need one."

What else could be said to that. Bowing once more, he said, "Thank you, Sakura-sensei...I'll see you again."

Sojiro chuckled. "I'd hope so."

As he cemented the image of Sojiro Sakura into his mind — standing on the front porch of the old ryokan; Enkai-chan lazily watching them from the engawa; the silhouette of cedars against the dawn sky — he walked down the hill towards the cluster of vehicles. Glossing over the buses of the Feathermen and the Emporium, the DeLorean (inwardly wincing as he remembered, once more, that Junpei Iori and Ken Amada were gone), Sakamoto-san's motorcycle, and Misato-san's A310, he came upon the Toyota HiAce; Mayumi and Mana were in the rearmost fourth row, Toji and Kensuke were in the third row, and the second row was empty; Misato had taken shotgun, whilst Ren was in the driver's seat. "Where's Sakamoto-san?"

"Riding with Kurosawa," said Misato, fiddling with her phone before showing a map to Amamiya. "You got the general idea, kid? Kurosawa's gonna be following us."

"Got it," remarked Ren, turning the key in the ignition. "You mind taking over if I get tired?"

"Sure, why not."

Shinji hopped into the second row, closing the door behind him and buckling himself in. "Um, Sakura-sensei gave me some snacks," he said, looking behind him. His voice trailed off, as he realized that Kensuke and Toji were nodding off, and Mayumi was already back asleep, using Mana's shoulder as a pillow. Mana herself was sitting with crossed arms, keeping her hands on the handle of LABRYS and the rim of AIGIS; both weapons were wedged into the gap between the seats of the fourth row and third row. "...maybe later then..."

"Hey, I'll take some," remarked Misato, reaching her hand back. Shinji handed her a packet of seaweed rice crackers, which she gladly opened up. "Try and get some rest if you can, Shinji-kun."

"...all right," he murmured, looking out the window towards the peaceful image of the ryokan (why was there such a foreboding feeling in the air? What awaited them in Tokyo-2...?), he absentmindedly pulled his SDAT out of his bag. Noting that a familiar blue velvet tape was inside, he placed the earbuds in, leaned back in his seat, and pressed play. The van had already begun moving by the time he closed his eyes...

xxxx

...and he opened them within the Velvet Room.

The first thing he noticed was that Elizabeth was staring at him from behind the curtains; with a sudden blink of terror(?), she ducked away. (Why did he feel so...irritated by her?) Theodore, shaking his head, followed her backstage. Margaret was nowhere to be seen; Igor was sitting at his desk, as ever.

"Oh, hello Mister Ikari!"

Looking over from his folding chair, Shinji blinked at the sight of Sokila splattering Lavenza's face with paint; the girl was trying to make numerous stars upon her senpai's visage. Lavenza, to her credit, was rather patient with her kouhai. "Moving on from crayons, Sokila-chan...?"

"No!" she retorted with a pout. "But 'Lizbeth made me blow up some of my drawings, and I was sad, but Lavenza wanted me to try this, and I feel better now, so I'm gonna do this for a bit!" The girl had said every single word in about five seconds.

"...right." At least she's finally trying new things. Sokila seemed pretty occupied at the moment, so he walked towards the stage. "Mister Igor?"

"How can I assist you, dear guest?"

"...I don't know why, but I feel...worried, about where we're going." The thoughts of his friends getting downed in a practical instant, courtesy of the mysterious Minako, filled his thoughts. "...I want to give my friends a better chance. I'd like to see if I can Forge some Items for them..."

Igor smiled; with the snap of his fingers, the Persona Compendium flashed into existence on his desk. "Then let us proceed. What would you like to fuse?"

Shinji's capacity only consisted of fusing a new staff from Berith and a new crossbow from Sandman; once that was over, he felt somewhat spent. "...I hope Suzuhara-san and Kensuke will appreciate these...um, how do I bring them to them?"

"They have been conjured into being by your power; you will be able to gift them once they enter the Metaverse by your side," explained Igor.

"...got it..." Grimacing, he glanced over his shoulder — noting that Lavenza had convinced Sokila to actually paint on canvas — before asking, "Mister Igor...?"

"Yes?"

"...what happens to the souls of those who die?"

"If you are curious about the fates of Junpei Iori and Ken Amada," answered Igor, folding his hands under his massive nose, "why do you wish to know?"

Shinji blinked. "Um...do I need a reason?"

"Are you capable of raising them to life? Of communing with the dead?"

"...well, no..."

"Do you believe that their deaths are solely your responsibility?"

"...my mind says no...but my heart wants me to say yes..."

"Understand that you are responsible for the consequences of your actions; this much you accepted, upon signing the contract," explained Igor. "However, Iori and Amada had wills of their own; as did that mysterious Angel Phanuel, who condescended to assist you in your time of need. What would come of obsession with those who have been lost, if not forgetfulness of those who still live?"

Shinji frowned. "I...I think I understand..."

"It is a fine thing — even necessary — to remember those who are lost to you; to learn the lessons that their life and death have etched into your being...but never forget that they are truly gone, and beyond your power to reach, my dear guest. But...there are still those who live, that you can still be of assistance to. It is the living who are within your power to change, for good or ill."

His Other chuckled, even as he caressed the skull.

"The dead are beyond help...unlike the living."

With quiet dignity, he placed it upon a gravestone.

"If only your father was of the same mindset..."

"...okay. I'll try to remember that, Mister Igor..."

Igor's grin, despite not changing, seemed more pleased somehow. "Be vigilant, my dear guest. A new challenge is just on the horizon..."

"...wait, what-?"

xxxx

Shinji opened his eyes, blinking confusedly. "Hmm...?" Slowly sitting up, he impulsively stretched his arms-

"Ah, he's finally awake!" called out Toji from behind him.

Looking behind him, Shinji noticed that his four peers had apparently dug into the snacks that Sojiro had provided; they had also apparently gotten some disposable cups from somewhere in the van, and had poured themselves coffee from his thermos. "Eh?"

"We kinda helped ourselves," said Kensuke with a nervous grin. "Even if we have no cream or sugar, caffeine is caffeine."

Misato called out from the front. "If you want to blame someone, blame me," she explained, holding up a styrofoam cup. "No point in letting your old guardian's liquidy goodness go to waste while you were zonked out!"

"No no, it's fine," he assured them; he wouldn't have been able to drink from the whole thermos anyhow. Looking out the window, he noticed that the sun was now visible in the blue sky, casting its light over the expressway and the hilly surroundings. "Where are we?"

"We've passed Kyoto, and are now in Shiga Prefecture," explained Ren, keeping a steady hand on the wheel. "We're going to be stopping soon to have brunch...and to top up on fuel."

Nodding to himself, Shinji impulsively checked at his phone (because that had become such a habit, he couldn't help but notice), realizing that someone had messaged him in the interim.

HEROD: IN LIGHT OF RECENT EVENTS, YOUR TARDINESS WITH REGARDS TO OUR MOST RECENT QUESTION IS UNDERSTANDABLE.
HEROD: NONETHELESS, YOUR ANSWER TO OUR PRIOR INQUIRY IS STILL PENDING.
HEROD: WE REQUEST A STATUS UPDATE.
HEROD: DEATH BY DROWNING, DEATH BY ASPHYXIATION, OR DEATH BY BURNING?

...oh. This. What a dark bit of timing on the MAGI's part. What death do I believe is the most unpleasant...?

Grimacing, he thought of the possibilities on a somewhat cursory level (to lose the breath of life, and simply stop...or was he being choked to death, courtesy of cruel and vicious hands? Would fire burn his flesh...or would he be incinerated in a flash, feeling nothing...?), yet, somehow...

xxxx

Another place. Another time. Amidst a vessel sailing through the dark.

Awareness returned; mechanical failure had begun, due to loss of power.

The liquid around him...it smelled of blood! It was wretched!

Panic. Panic. PANIC.

Desperation...only tired him out...he was hallucinating...going crazy...?

No...all he could do...was wait...to die...

xxxx

...the first option was the one that chilled him the most.

S. Ikari: death by drowning

As ever, the MAGI were quick to respond.

HEROD: INTERESTING. ELABORATE.

What was there to elaborate on?

S. Ikari: drowning frightens me more
S. Ikari: I don't know why, but that's how I feel
HEROD: CLARIFICATION ATTAINED.
HEROD: GIVEN YOUR EXPERIENCES AND PERSONALITY PROFILE, THIS ANSWER CAN ONLY MEAN THAT YOUR LEVEL OF INTEGRATION IS HAVING GREATER IMPACT.

Before Shinji could even ponder the meaning of those words, the last message changed in content.

HEROD: GIVEN YOUR EXPERIENCES AND PERSONALITY PROFILE, THIS ANSWER CAN ONLY MEAN [REDACTED].
HEROD: THIS IS USEFUL DATA.
HEROD: WE WILL PROVIDE FURTHER INQUIRY SOON.

Now Shinji was well and truly confused. What was that about?

xxxx

After nearly two hundred and fifty kilometers of driving — which had been slightly delayed by a few security checkpoints around the Kyoto metropolitan area — the group had pulled over for brunch at a major rest stop in the town of Taga, within the Inukami District of Shiga Prefecture. Amongst the various offerings was a gyudon shop that drew the eye for being quick to eat and relatively cheap.

As the teenagers dug into their beef bowls, Shinji couldn't help but look towards the table where Misato, Sakamoto, and Kurosawa were sitting with an uneasy sort of tension amongst each other, such that their lack of chatter was conspicuous.

"...feels kind of weird, not havin' Iori-san and Amada-san eatin' with us," murmured Toji, speaking for them all. When Shinji, Kensuke, Mayumi, Mana, and Ren looked at him, he added, "well, being back on the road, stopping at places, hear Iori-san banter and Amada-san get snippy with him? It was like...I dunno, nice background noise."

"They were quite lively," agreed Mayumi, quietly nibbling at her beef. "It feels...too quiet."

"...it's an odd period of time, immediately after a funeral. Especially if the deceased were those you knew. More so, if you knew them well." Ren dexterously nibbled at his meal, proficiently getting huge chunks of beef and grains in small bites. "It's always a period of adjustment...but you guys have each other. You'll be fine."

"Speakin' from experience, Amamiya-senpai?" asked Kensuke.

"You could say that," he cryptically remarked.

(Kensuke hid his suspicious hum by lifting up his beef bowl, eating the last dregs of meat.)

Shinji looked towards Mana, who seemed...unusually sullen. More so than usual, at least. "Is something wrong, Kirishima-san?"

"...just got a bad feeling, that's all." She impulsively rotated her shoulders, used to feeling the weight of LABRYS and AIGIS on her back; both weapons had been left in the van (for obvious reasons; openly carrying them in a rural countryside village was leagues removed from openly carrying them around a busy rest stop). "Not sure why."

Trace thoughts of Igor's warnings filtered through Shinji's mind. What's going to happen...? Sighing, Shinji finished the last of his beef bowl, placing his chopsticks down on his empty bowl. "I'm going to use the restroom." Rising up, he entered the men's restroom near the back of the restaurant, relieving himself. Absentmindedly cleaning his hands, he heard a sigh of relief — followed by flushing — from one of the stalls.

"Ah, sometimes it's the simple things..." The nondescript man — wearing an old black suit with a white dress shirt and red tie — calmly stepped to the sink besides him, washing his hands as well. "You ever think about how complicated life can be, kid?"

Shinji blinked, bewildered by the stranger suddenly deciding to talk to him. "Eh?"

"Just a simple question," he asked with a genuine smile.

"...well, yes. A lot, actually."

"Man, even kids have it rough, these days." Adjusting his tie, the man added, "try and enjoy what you've got; there's no telling when it'll all just be...gone, you know? Then you'll be in a really bad situation."

Shinji inwardly winced, wondering if the man knew just how close his words hit. "...yeah."

"Anyhow, try to keep a lid on the temper if you've got one; angry people can be scary, after all..."

"...eh?" Shinji looked over his shoulder, watching the man leave the restroom leave without another word. What...was that about...?

xx

Tohru Adachi casually walked out of the restroom with hands in his pockets, intentionally not looking towards the tables where Ikari's fellow travelers sat. After all, why would he? He was just a nobody...and no one bothered to look in the direction of nobodies, either. Hmm...so that was Shinji Ikari. Pretty scrawny, all things considered.

And yet...it was often the scrawny and unassuming types that could hide monsters.

His Other quietly cracked his knuckles.

"And you're a regular subject-matter expert, aren't you?"

Stepping outside, Adachi thrust his hands into his pockets. "Welp...hope they have fun..." He continued on his way, intent to make sure that his message was delivered.

xx

Ryuji Sakamoto grimaced, feeling the odd ache in his bum leg finally recede. Tch. Wonder what set it off?

"You've been practically buried in your phone, Kurosawa." Misato's comment brought Ryuji out of his internal reverie; the woman took another hefty bite from her beef bowl, watching as the law officer scrolled through his phone with an increasingly stern expression. "What gives?"

"There are news reports of no flights coming out from Tokyo-2...no trains, either. Yet none of the reports are saying anything about why."

"Maybe there are severe weather delays?" Ryuji wondered aloud, even though part of him knew that couldn't be the case.

(They all knew that something was happening, yet they couldn't articulate why.)

(Tokyo-2 was just fine. Why would it no longer be? Best not to think about it...)

His Other angrily punched the bark of a tree.

"Something doesn't smell right."

Ryuji scowled, gripping his cane tightly. "We should get back on the road...I think we need to get to Tokyo-2 as quickly as possible."

Kurosawa and Misato (inwardly feeling the same concerns as he) both nodded gravely.

After topping up on fuel, the HiAce and the Corolla were back on the road; once they made it past Nagoya, they just had to get through Gifu Prefecture and through half of Nagano Prefecture...and then they would be at their destination.

Tokyo-2 lay less than four hours away...

xxxx

Rei Ayanami had taken care of several missions en route from Hakone towards Okayama Prefecture, largely tied to Ghost activity, with only two Acolytes. (She had noticed that much of the Anti-Terror Task Force's work had been diverted to keeping the Archetypes in the Metaverse from going wild or berserk; if the populace could be subtly persuaded to keep moving about their lives as normal, then it would blunt the impact of Japan becoming more and more isolated.)

(It's almost like the isolation of NERV on a grander scale, from your first life...)

(The existence of Strega, the sudden restriction of Angel Syndrome to a fixed radius around the Evangelion-users...it only served to implicitly make Japan a pariah amongst the world. How long until it became explicit?)

(You can't fault the government for doing what they can to keep things going...)

(But what limits were there?)

Sometimes, she bemoaned the fact that Goro Akechi was the Chief Warden of Tokyo-3's Cognitive Protection Center, if only because conversations with him on the nature of authority and power tended towards outright cynicism.

Finally, however, she arrived in Nishiawakura; entering Sojiro Sakura's Cafe, she waited for the man in question to finish serving his customers before stepping forward. "Oh...you're one of the kid's friends. Ayanami, correct?"

It was hard to ignore her distinctive features, even though she had only been present a couple of times since Ikari and his fellows had arrived in Nishiawakura. "I just found out about the events that led to the untimely deaths of Agents Amada and Iori. I was hoping to speak with Ikari-san and the others."

Sojiro blinked. "Huh. You just missed them; they left this morning to head to Tokyo-2."

"The capital?"

"Yes. The government wanted them brought in for further questioning regarding everything's that happened to the kid over the past month." His irritated snort at the end of that comment was plenty indication as to his sentiments.

"...I see. I won't trouble you any further then."

Raising an empty mug, Sojiro asked, "sure I can't trouble you for a cup for the road?"

Rei thought about it. (About the pleasant smell that pervaded this cafe, even if the undertones of meat in the curry were personally distasteful; about the trace thoughts of satisfaction and contentment that were baked into every square inch of this restaurant's cognition; about the potential positive impacts such a drink would have on her own disposition, thus improving her fighting capability; about whether she deserved to share in the kindness of Ikari-kun's guardian.) "Very well. I'll take a cup of your darkest blend." Sojiro raised an eyebrow, at which she elaborated, "I will need the caffeine."

Sojiro simply shrugged, seemingly acquiescing to her request...only to return with a chocolatey frappuccino of sorts. "Here."

"This is not what I ordered."

"I know. But you look like someone who's serious enough as is; you could do with a little sweetness." Pushing the sugary drink towards her, he added, "But since you requested caffeine, I put in two shots of espresso into the mocha blend; given what you kids are tasked with doing, I don't blame you."

"...if you insist." She would not turn down the man's graciousness. Taking a tentative sip, she blinked at the subtle differences in taste and texture from what she had expected. "You used soy milk?"

The man shrugged. "The kids talked about their classmates during dinner once or twice while they were here; I think it was the Aida kid who brought up that you were a vegetarian once or twice. It was sort of offhanded, to be honest."

Impressive, she couldn't help but think. Her prior visits to Nishiawakura had been related to work only, with no time spent on leisure; that the man had connected the name 'Ayanami' to her, with only that set of information? "You have a good memory, Sakura-san."

"Eh, with as many regulars as I have, you get used to knowing people's tastes by memory."

There was also the unspoken confidence he had in substituting soy milk in place of dairy milk without even asking her, lest he ruin the surprise of his drink selection. "...you are quite kind, sir."

Sojiro scratched at the back of his head in a motion that seemed familiar (it was only belatedly that she realized it was a motion that Ikari-kun did; had he subconsciously imitated his guardian without even knowing?). "Eh, I'm just an old fogey. Kindness is pretty relative at my age."

Her Other tittered.

"As though he's in a position to lecture you about age..."

Rei Ayanami quietly sipped at her frappuccino, enjoying the sweet concoction for what it was (and, deep in her heart of hearts, wondering what life would have been like if mankind's memory bound her to a man like Sojiro Sakura instead of Gendo Ikari...but that was merely wishful thinking, and such hope was beyond her). All the while, her mind turned to Tokyo-2...

(Her thoughts associated with the capital felt oddly fuzzy.)

(What's happening with that city's cognition...?)

xxxx

/Outskirts of Tokyo-2, Nagano Prefecture/

"...I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at," admitted Misato with a frown.

After traversing the Nagano Expressway from Nagoya, Ren's HiAce and Kurosawa's Corolla had gradually curved northeast, eventually turning northward at the city of Okawa, near Lake Suwa. However, upon entering the Matsumoto Basin and entering a flat area where they could see all around...they had felt compelled to pull over.

The sight of the yellow cloud on the horizon dictated nothing less.

"...how are you guys not feeling that?" hissed Mana, teeth gritting together out of irritation. "It feels wrong."

Kurosawa blinked repeatedly, as if trying to make sense of it. "...it's just fog...but it's not. It can't be just that."

Everyone was clearly struggling with the sight, trying to reconcile what their senses were telling them with the odd compulsion to just ignore it and move about their day. I smell shenanigans, thought Ren, idly taking a picture of the distant cloud covering Tokyo-2 and sending it to his compatriots.

Ace up the sleeve: hey, check this out
Ace up the sleeve: ring any bells?

After not even fifteen seconds, he got a reply.

Door-senpai: huh
Door-senpai: Narukami's in a tizzy
Door-senpai: it would actually be funny if it weren't so weird

...yep, definitely shenanigans.

Mr. Bowl Cut: That fog is a sign of the cognitive world leaking into reality.
Ace up the sleeve: ?!
Mr. Bowl Cut: At least, that's what I recall the first time around.
Mr. Bowl Cut: Even if the 'rules' for this world differ, I would bet on that still being the case.

...well, that's great.

Ace up the sleeve: any clue as to why this is happening?
Mr. Bowl Cut: nothing I'd want to put over text
Mr. Bowl Cut: I would suggest everyone keep on their toes.
Door-senpai: if you get closer to the cloud, they might be able to summon their Personas in reality
Door-senpai: something to keep in mind

Ren idly pocketed his phone, glad for the presence of his mask, sitting as it was in his backpack. Yeah...I'll definitely keep that in mind.

xx

"...I feel like we should be doing something more proactive," murmured Ryuji.

Shinji couldn't help but agree, privately. The yellow fog was...distracting, in a bizarre sense; as though it wasn't odd or unusual in the least. (But it had to be; when was fog ever yellow?)

"...why do I feel like we should be more concerned?" wondered Kensuke, rubbing at his arm with an odd bit of anxiety. "I mean, what's stopping us from just driving into Tokyo-2? Why should we be concerned about fog?"

Mayumi's frown took on a pronounced effect. "Mana-san," she said, turning towards the grimacing girl, "what feels wrong about it?"

"Like it's drawing in thoughts and not letting anything out," muttered Mana, impulsively gripping at the hand of LABRYS. "I'd call it a cognitive dead zone if I wasn't sensing life from it. It's...it's more like the Metaverse is present."

"The cognitive world, present in reality...?" wondered Misato aloud.

Mayumi looked at the others, asking, "Everyone else feels like this fog isn't that much of a concern, and that it's business as usual in Tokyo-2; is that accurate?"

"'Bout as accurate as you can get," grumbled Toji, speaking before the adults could voice their concerns.

"Do you have an idea, Yamagishi-san?" asked Shinji, wondering if the girl had some insight.

"...well, there was a sci-fi novel I read some time ago, called 'The Wayfarer's Survey of the Stars'; a bit of technology described within it was something called an N.M.P. Field; N.M.P. is short for 'Not My Problem'." Ignoring Kurosawa's incredulous stare at her referencing a fictional novel, she continued, "It basically works like this: we tend to ignore what makes us feel uncomfortable or unusual, right? Well, if we consider that someone else will take care of it, we'll default to thinking 'not my problem' and go about our business. Whatever this yellow fog is...it might be operating on a similar principle." Suddenly noticing that everyone was looking at her, Mayumi flushed. "Um, well, that's my thinking, at any rate..."

"Makes as much sense as anything else," remarked Ren.

"...assuming you're correct, then this means that whatever this yellow fog is, it's interfering with everyone's cognition passively, making everyone ignore their senses." Kurosawa glared at the yellow fog. "Even now, it feels like it shouldn't be a concern..."

Ryuji huffed, tapping his cane on the ground. "Only one way to find out," said Ryuji, heading back towards the Corolla.

...I guess there's nothing else to do but move forward, thought Shinji with a grimace as he turned back towards the HiAce. In a matter of minutes, the two vehicles were back on the road.

After a few more kilometers of driving, they could more clearly see the expanse of the yellow cloud, looming like an eyesore.

"Geez...it's gotta be several kilometers across, easy," murmured Misato, leaning forward to get a better look. "Maybe ten or twelve...?"

Alas, they were soon forced to pull off the road once more, pulling into a convenience store's parking lot; a traffic jam of vehicles led further north onto the expressway, disappearing into the fog. The fact that no vehicles were driving on the southbound expressway was an ominous portent.

"I don't like this," growled Ryuji. "Feels like we're walking into a trap."

"If this is truly an incident of cognitive origin, then we're obligated to investigate," retorted Kurosawa, locking his Corolla up. "Let's take one of the local roads without traffic. We're going to head in on foot."

"...what are we expecting to find?" asked Shinji.

Kurosawa stoically replied, "We'll find out soon enough."

That did nothing to ease Shinji's nerves. Why do I feel so nervous...?

xxxx

Meanwhile, standing upon the forested slopes of the mountains overlooking Tokyo-2 from the northeast, a collective of five Persona-users looked at the fog in silence.

"...I can sense that Ikari and his cohort are about to enter the cloud," muttered Jin Shirato, his veins pulsing sympathetically. "Wonder how Adachi pulled off this little trick."

"Tch, that guy spurned your invitation, and you're fine with letting him go without a leash?" snarled Sho Minazuki.

Takaya Sakaki shrugged nonchalantly. "His patron cares not for what Tohru Adachi chooses to do; so long as he wreaks havoc, it matters not if he chooses to be separate from us. Our purposes will be served regardless." Ignoring Sho's snort, he continued, "But havoc unrecognized is ill-suited for us; we will have to dispel the fog so that the world will witness what's taken place...and if we end up encountering Shinji Ikari and his allies along the way, so much the better for Strega." Looking over his shoulder at their two newest members, he asked, "What will you two do?"

Musashi Strasberg and Keita Asari glanced at each other before answering. "We're going to try and convince our sister to come with us," said Keita.

"And if she declines because of whatever bonds she has with her taskmasters?"

"...then we'll fight nonetheless," murmured Musashi with a genuinely distraught expression. "Tokita ensured that force of arms is the means by which Mana-neesan views the world...so we'll respond in kind, if necessary."

Takaya smiled. "I hope your resolve will hold true." Looking back at the fog, his eyes — colored an equally eerie yellow — gleamed. "Let us be off, my comrades."

xxxx

Walking along agricultural fields that would have belonged in Nishiawakura, the Hakone Caravan plus Kurosawa slowly made their way towards the billowy boundary of the fog; the way its edges curled and flowed like clouds, yet remained stationary was...unnerving. "You kids stick close with us, okay?" cautioned Misato.

Everyone nodded.

Kurosawa, Ryuji, and Misato led the way, followed by Mana, Shinji, Kensuke, Toji, Mayumi, and Ren at the rear. They crossed the threshold...(felt the shift)...and emerged into a warzone.

"Holy geez-!" yelped Toji, enunciating everyone's exact sentiments; through the yellow haze still dominated off in the distance, the outline of Tokyo-2's downtown area could be seen amidst the fog; the red and black sky of the Metaverse could be seen above, as through a glass darkly; most importantly, however, were the shadowy beasts that moved about, snarling and moaning with myriad forms. Their colored masks seemed quite distinctive, standing out amidst the haze; even so, the sounds of combat could be heard from afar, brightening the area with numerous attacks that signified Persona activity. "What the hell is all this?!"

"It's like one gigantic Realm," murmured Misato. "And all these shadows are like the monsters that emanate within...the masks look distinctive enough...!"

"This is beyond us," growled Kurosawa. "Back out. Now."

No one complained, anxiously retreating through the threshold. Once they emerged back into the open air, the adults impulsively reached for their phones...only to pause. "...weren't we about to call someone...?" asked Ryuji aloud.

"Why would we? It's just fog...an unusual weather pattern, but..." Kurosawa trailed off, looked utterly perturbed. "Oh...something insidious is happening."

"...I'm not sure what it is, but I can't help but agree," murmured Misato, warily slipping her phone back into her pocket.

Shinji leaned in towards Kensuke. "Who were they about to call?"

"I don't know," answered Aida with a shrug.

"...maybe we should head back into the cloud?" suggested Mayumi, looking nervously at the fog.

With nothing better in mind, they all crept back in...and once they passed through, their minds were enlightened. "Oh, that's mean," murmured Kensuke, looking at the threshold behind them. "Your description of this thing as a 'Not My Problem' Field was pretty spot-on, Yamagishi-san."

"The moment we left the fog, all thoughts of everything within it were reduced to nothing," observed Kurosawa, arms crossed with frustration. "No wonder there's been no serious attempts at trying to warn people that something's happened with the capital; to outsiders, this is just a bit of stubborn fog..."

"So what do we do?" asked Mana, already unleashing LABRYS and AIGIS. "How would we even get rid of this fog?"

"We'll need to head for the city's collection of MAGI," said Kurosawa, gazing off to the north. "They're stationed in a facility underneath the JSSDF base at Camp Matsumoto, about six klicks north-northwest of our position. Any resolution of this anomaly will likely have to be done there."

"...in that case, I'm gonna head to the A.T. Task Force Headquarters," said Ryuji, tapping his cane for emphasis. "The Commissioner will be able to give us a sitrep, because there's no way he'd have sat any of this out."

"Then I'll head out to Matsumoto Castle. That's where this region's Cognitive Protection Center will be located...and I'll take down any monstrosities along the way." Looking over her shoulder, Misato added, "Mana-chan, you'll be with me. Just rip and tear at anything that's not human."

Mana snorted, a grin impulsively coming to her face. "Fine by me."

"In which case, I'll take Ikari-san and Yamagishi-san with me," said Kurosawa, drawing both teens' attention. "Based on your recollections, Yamagishi-san's Persona has the capacity for insight and observation; it might be necessary. And Ikari-san...you'll be an ace in the hole, in the event of anything unexpected."

...at least he's not that hostile. Shinji would take what he could get. "I guess that means Kensuke and Suzuhara-san will be going with Sakamoto-san?"

"That was the plan," said Ryuji.

"...what about me?" asked Ren, raising his hand.

"You're the civvie. You're walking back outside." Ryuji accompanied his abrupt order with a pointed look.

Ren snorted, seemingly irritated by the command. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted...I'll just be outside, working on my tan." With an about-face, the high school student disappeared into the threshold of the fog.

"Cocky little sonovagun, ain't he?" mused Misato.

Once everyone who had a Persona summoned theirs, Shinji caught Toji and Kensuke's attention. "Um...I wanna try something. Could you hold out your weapons?"

"...don't see why not," said Kensuke, whilst Toji simply shrugged.

As the former held out his Pearl Phoenix crossbow, and the latter his gnarled staff of black wood, Shinji felt that odd little tingle in the back of his head. Right...so this is what Mister Igor meant. He touched both weapons...and with a sudden flicker of blue flames, they transformed.

"WHOA!" yelped Kensuke, looking at his crossbow in bewilderment. The metal was now a deep red, and the bow was contorted to evoke the shape of a crescent moon. "What the hey?!"

"I made that from a Sandman," he explained. "I think it goes by the name of Naptime Bolter." Looking at Toji, he added, "and that Seven Star Stick was made from a Berith."

"...I guess?" said Toji with a confused blink, looking at his transformed staff with a befuddled expression; it was now a strong yet flexible rod, fit for the art of baguazhang. Giving it an experiment wiggle, the jock seemed satisfied. "Thanks. I think."

"...I'm sorry, but did I just hear that you made new weapons for their cognitive self-image...using Archetypes?" spurted Misato.

"Y...Yes?" sheepishly admitted Shinji. "Is that a bad thing?"

Kurosawa seemed very unamused. "I suppose that's just one more oddity about your powers that will have to be tested. But enough of that for now; we have work to do."

"Stay on your toes, kids!" commanded Ryuji, pumping his fist into the air. "And keep your eyes open!"

Everyone, sans Mana, summoned their Personas; Kurosawa and Mayumi hunkered on Titan's shoulders as Shinji commanded him to walk; Toji and Kensuke stood with Sakamoto on Seiten Taisei's cloud; and Misato, Mana, and Tokoyo simply took off running to the north. Thus did they split up, each with their own mission.

xx

Not even sixty seconds after they left, Ren Amamiya stepped back into view, having hidden within the threshold...but without crossing it. "I know you're trying to keep me out of trouble Ryuji," murmured Ren, knowing that Sakamoto was the only person who had actually seen his cognitive powers in action, "but I've got things to do as well." As it was, he could sense the presence of two old Confidants within Tokyo-2; one was in the direction that Ryuji had gone, so he could leave that one to them...but another was situated in a different part of the downtown area. So long as they're still alive...I have to take a chance. With a nonchalant motion, Ren pulled the familiar domino mask of paper mache out of his backpack...and with a theatrical flourish, Joker's path was set. Time to stage a rescue, he thought with a confident smirk.

Thus did the Phantom Thief take off, disappearing like a bandit into the mist.

xxxx

As Titan took lumbering strides, Shinji kept a wary eye on his surroundings, perched from atop his Persona's head. Armisael's throne was nestled onto the right shoulder, from which Mayumi analyzed the enemies around them. Kurosawa, meanwhile, was practically rooted onto Titan's left shoulder, taking shots with Häyhä at the shadowy thoughtbeasts all around them...and it was a target-rich environment.

The bodies were also hard to ignore: of panicked civilians who had been struck down by rampant manifestations of mankind's cognition; of embattled Persona-users that had been mauled after running out of energy; even some vehicles (a lot of which were jammed along the highway near the thresholds of the fog) had been torn open, looking like jagged sets of angles from afar. "This is horrible...what happened...?"

"...it's sort of what it felt like in the Angel's Domain during the last new moon, but different." Mayumi's voice was amplified by Armisael, allowing her to be heard by both Shinji and Kurosawa. "A confluence of both mind and matter..."

"Similar to what happened with the Ai Ferry?" asked Kurosawa, pausing to fire at a crimson tank bearing a yellow mask upon its top; rather than exploding, his Persona's empowered bullet rendered the tank into stray mist.

"No, it's different; from how the others described it, the ferry was pulled into the Metaverse. This feels more like aspects of the cognitive world were forced upon reality...which might explain why there have only been these numerous masked entities instead of any Archetypes." Mayumi pondered out loud, voicing her guesses and observations. "From what I've read...and from what Aida-san has said about the subject...Archetypes are formed by human cognition in a collective sense, based on the common thoughts that traverse a given area over time; it's why Archetypes will vary depending on what area you're in...but these seem to lack those common forms, coming across as rather chaotic; the only common element are the colored masks they wear..."

As Titan kicked a trove of walking masked castles away, Kurosawa said, "they look like the Emanations that tend to emerge within a Shadow's Realm."

"Is Emanation the preferred term?"

"...I think the other accepted terms are 'Fragments' or 'Remnants'," said Kurosawa, shooting down a masked avain of some sort; the trio of birds that tried to swoop down at an angle were swatted down by Titan.

"...but what's the official term?"

"I wouldn't be able to say. It's still an academic question."

"I'm sure there has to be an official one!" insisted Mayumi.

Shinji frowned, peering ahead into the mist. "Uh...I see a fence..." Sure enough, as they got closer, numerous warning signs were affixed to the black metal, cautioning civilians to stay away. "...is this the place?"

"Yes; we're at the boundary of Camp Matsumoto...but I don't like how quiet it is." Kurosawa raised his rifle-arm, keeping it at the ready. "Can you sense anything, Yamagishi-san?"

"...not really," she admitted.

"Then step lightly, Ikari-san."

Shinji nodded, willing Titan to step over the fence...and as his Persona parted the fog, only carnage awaited them.

xxxx

Mana Kirishima hadn't fought alongside Misato Katsuragi in quite a bit...at least, not in the sense of doing battle alongside a singular comrade.

Though they had done some patrols during July (most notably during the incident where Suzuhara gained his Persona), it was an altogether different feeling when they were simply tearing their way through shadowy beasts that were attracted by all the commotion. It reminded her of the massive melee in Armisael's Domain during the August New Moon...and Misato (with her pistol and short sword), alongside her Persona Tokoyo (with her twin blades) was giving as good as she got.

It was strangely exhilarating.

"Rising Slash!" cried Tokoyo, bringing both blades down against a masked golem, splitting it in twain. The masked boulders behind it rolled on, ready to crush the woman...had Mana not been there with LABRYS, bisecting them both.

"Good job, Mana-chan," acknowledged Misato, moving northward at a steady pace. "Looks like we're coming up on a major train yard," she said, eyeing a train that had actually crashed into another, looking like a desolate wreck from some post-apocalyptic movie. "If the trains scheduled to come in just kept arriving...they're probably backed up all the way on both the northbound and southbound lines..."

"How much further to the CPC?" asked Mana.

"Still a bit of a hike for us...hold on." Misato held her hand out, looking warily around the train yard (filled with rail cars as it was); amidst the yellow fog, the long trains looked akin to slumbering monstrosities. "What's with this weird feeling...?"

xx

On the other side of the train yard, a trio of young men sensed Misato and Mana's approach. "...so...I'll take the lady with the purple hair. You'll take the other girl."

"We would have done so regardless."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Tsukiyomi...let's wreck the place."

xx

"Vorpal Blade!"

Misato's eyes widened as the shout broke through the din. "Mana-chan, get down-!"

Multiple rail cars were obliterated in a torrent of slashes, revealing a Persona with a burning blade and horned helm that blazed with a dark aura; without hesitation, it crashed into Tokoyo — her twin swords blocking its curved blade — and carried her away, out of sight.

Before Misato could even exclaim a word of protest, a young man with crimson hair was in front of her. "See you next fall," coinciding his words with a vicious kick that launched Misato into the air. The madman shot Mana a wicked smirk before taking off, disappearing into the fog to pursue Misato.

...that was Sho Minazuki. That blazing red hair and cocky grin belonged to no one else. "Oh like hell are you gonna-!"

"Mana-neesan."

With that simple honorific, all concern for Misato died. What. That voice was one she couldn't forget...

"Hi, Mana-neesan..."

...and neither was the second. It can't be. Slowly — painfully; agonizingly — she looked back in the direction where Sho and his Persona had attacked from; stepping through the obliterated rail car wreckage were two unnervingly familiar silhouettes. "...niisan...?" Musashi and Keita were mere meters away. (Mana did not think of their 'surnames', of Strasberg and Asari; much like 'Kirishima', the names had been given to them by Shiro Tokita. Thus did they bear his taint, just like she did.) "Is...is it you...?" As they stepped out of the fog, they revealed themselves to be wearing plan hoodies over weathered pants, but their faces...it was them. (The odd sensation in the back of her mind was chucked aside, because it was her brothers!) "...guys..." Gently placing LABRYS and AIGIS onto the ground, she darted towards the duo and embraced them, and they embraced her in turn, and for the first time in weeks the hole in the bottom of her heart was no longer empty-! "...I...I wanted to find you...I swear I did..."

"...we know, neesan," said Keita, smiling genuinely.

"...where have you two been?" she asked, stepping back to take in their appearance. Aside from Musashi's slicked hair (which was a pretty cool look, she could privately admit), they seemed just the same as before; however, there was a core of stoic strength in their expressions, likely forged from whatever they had experienced since escaping from Tokita's facility. "You look..."

Big Sis bristled, looking somewhat concerned.

Little Sis frowned, a sorrowful expression overshadowing her face.

The odd sense of foreboding was ignored, because it was her brothers. "...you look like you've been through a lot."

"That's putting it mildly," remarked Musashi, gazing up at the red and black sky, shrouded as it was by the fog. "We wanted to get away...and we learned a lot more than we bargained for. But it was important for us, to see what we did..."

"Well...you're here, now." The thought of introducing them to Katsuragi brought an odd little thrill up her spine (wait, would they get along with her teammates? How would Yamagishi, Ikari, Suzuhara, and Aida react to meeting them?). "Come on," she said, grabbing their hands with her own. "If you come with me, I can lead you out of this fog, and then-" Her words came to a halt the moment she tried to tug them along; the fact that she failed to budge them in the slightest elicited a strange anxiety in her heart. "...guys?"

Musashi looked at her with pity, whilst Keita seemed apologetic. "Mana-neesan...we found out about the truth of this world," said the latter.

"...what do you mean?"

Musashi calmly answered, "We found out that this world...this reality...is anything but. It's nothing more than a twisted dream, born of humanity's collective mind and spirit."

...what? "Huh? How did you...?" she impulsively said, because if there was anything she had expected from her inevitable reunion with her brothers, it certainly hadn't been this!

Keita's eyes glimmered with understanding. "So...you know as well?"

"...if we were to ask you to come with us, would you?" asked Musashi.

"...where would we go?" she wondered, even as warning alarms blared in the back of her mind. (This was wrong. This was wrong. This was all wrong!) "No, wait, damn it, I need you to answer my question! How'd you find out about the nature of reality?"

"Does it matter? All it means is that our suffering was born from a collective dream...everything that happened to Big Sis and Little Sis, everything that Tokita did to us, and to you..." Keita clenched his fists with genuine anger. "...it...it sickened us, to find out."

Mana took a step back. (Something was wrong. What had happened? Who had done this?) "Keita-niisan...Musashi-niisan...tell me who told you about reality." (Who involved her brothers in this mess? Who had dared taint them even more?!)

(You failed to protect them.)

"...we met a man named Takaya Sakaki," explained Musashi (no no no no nonononono...!). "He took us in; fed us; protected us...helped us become strong. Strong enough to choose for ourselves...and what we wanted was revenge."

Mana felt the bottom of her world fall away. "You...you're with Strega..."

Keita nodded (confirming it, confirming her fear, confirming her dread). "We've seen a lot of the horrible things that mankind is capable of...and the suffering that we were forced to endure, the cruelty of it all...knowing the truth about reality only made our decision simpler." Smiling sadly, he added, "A species as bad as we are...we don't deserve to live on."

Not that long ago, Mana might have found herself agreeing with them. (Tokita's calculated experiments, done with a cool apathy for her pain; the technicians and scientists who watched her without batting an eye; the dull monotony of the unspoken threat to her brothers, day in and day out, wearing away at her...)

(You failed to protect them.)

Now, thoughts of Misato Katsuragi, of Team Statherós, came to mind...and the thought of them dying made her recoil with a surprising ferocity. "No. It ain't all bad...there are good people..."

"If you were to lay down your arms and refuse to fight, would NERV let you?" challenged Musashi. "If you were to try and walk away...would they ever leave you alone?"

(August the 6th. Within the women's onsen at Nishiawakura, she inadvertently poured her heart out to Mayumi Yamagishi and Akane Hasegawa. "...even Ikari, for all his power, is still shackled by others...so how can I even compare...? Maybe that's why I feel so irritated...because I'm still trying to come to grips with that. I'm...probably never gonna get left alone, am I? Maybe...maybe I'd be better off just leaving my brothers alone...why drag them into my mess? Why draw the eyes of other people to them? Maybe they're enjoying their freedom...and who am I to take that away from them?")

Mana viciously ignored her traitorous memory, saying, "It's not that simple." Stepping away even further, she asked, "What the hell did Sakaki put into your heads?" Another monster in human form had gotten their wretched hands on her family. "What did he tell you?!"

Musashi and Keita looked sadly at each other, as though they had expected this. "...he gave us a choice," said Keita, his eyes suddenly glowing a brilliant yellow as his pale face underwent a colorful change, with the right side shifting to coal black, while the left brightened to a stark white.

"And we took it," continued Musashi, whose eyes glowed similarly; the blood vessels running along his face suddenly glimmered, shining a subtle orange.

Mana darted backwards, impulsively summoning her axe and shield. "This...no..." The sensation was just like what Mayumi Yamagishi had felt like, when she had been possessed by Armisael. "...no...!" The Angels had her brothers.

(You failed to protect them.)

Every single battle-hardened impulse within her was suddenly screaming; the enemy of humanity had taken hold of her brothers, to do with them as they pleased.

(You failed...and they've paid the price for your failure.)

No...no...no...NO! Snarling, Mana raised LABRYS over her shoulder, glaring at the wretched things wearing the skins of her brothers. "Angels...let them go...give them back...GIVE MY BROTHERS BACK!" With a defiant roar, she swung LABRYS, unleashing a searing energy wave-!

CHYOOOM.

The glowing blade of light splashed against a dual A.T. Field, summoned by both Musashi and Keita. The two were unharmed...physically, that is; the mere fact she had attacked them hurt in a way that the trio of orphans could only call agonizing. (For who was hurt most? The two who watched their sister raise up arms against them? Or the one who saw her brothers consumed in essence by monsters that desired their extinction?)

"...there's nothing to let go, neesan," sadly said Keita. "We chose this."

"For the sake of power, we let the Angels combine with us," explained Musashi. "In doing so...we faced our Shadows."

"I faced the fear I refused to let myself feel," muttered Keita, his left hand burning with blue fire.

"I faced the terror I didn't want to acknowledge was real," admitted Musashi, his right hand blazing likewise.

Those azure embers elicited an odd note of bewildered panic in Mana. That fire...do...do they have Personas...?!

"...so witness my fright: Phobos!" yelled Keita.

"And behold my dread: Deimos!" roared Musashi.

Mana grimaced as the two Personas began to take form, even as her heart quivered with anguish.

xxxx

/Anti-Terror Task Force Headquarters, Tokyo-2, Nagano Prefecture/

"Speed Riser!"

Gilgamesh barrelled through the hallway, glowing red from Tarukaja as he smashed through the masked Remnants in the way. Whether they took on the appearance of hulking wrestlers, walking hands, or hulking golems, they were still bulldozed out of the way. However, the wretched thoughtbeasts were hardy and persistent.

How fortunate, that Gilgamesh had allies on his six; Toji charged in from behind, smacking Remnants with his Seven Star Stick. Unlike his long wooden staff from before, the Seven Star Stick was more nimble, yet more punishing ironically. Kensuke was hustling right behind him, firing his new Naptime Bolter at enemies before they could retaliate against Toji. Fitting for the name, there was a random chance of the Sleep Ailment being inflicted; likewise, Ozymandias targeted the enemies left over with other Ailments, such as Fear, Dizzy, Despair, or Forget.

This left Ryuji and Seiten Taisei at the very rear, to annihilate the debilitated Remnants with Maziodyne. Those that survived (or were largely resistant to Electric Skills) were quickly set upon by Toji, Kensuke, and their Personas.

Overall, despite the massive numbers of the enemies before them, it was a tactical approach that served them well, even after over a dozen floors worth of fighting.

Reaching a stairwell at the end of the hall, Toji had to stop. "'Kay, timeout," he muttered, exhaling with loud throaty gasps. "We've been going nonstop...!"

Kensuke sat on his rump, running a hand through sweaty hair. "Seriously...how much further do we have to go...?"

"As far as we have to go," answered Ryuji, reaching into his pockets and pulling out some energy bars. "Here, eat up." As the two boys promptly devoured the snacks, Ryuji gazed out the window; the yellow fog was seemingly omnipresent no matter how far they looked. "It's been a bit of a slog..."

(The outside of the A.T. Task Force's headquarters had been littered with shadowy creatures — all bearing colorful masks — that fired at Seiten Taisei the moment they got within range. The ground level was marked by signs of battle from hours ago...and the occasional human corpse boded ill for the defenders. With grim resolve, he ordered the boys to keep a tight formation as they entered the building.)

"...do you think we'll find that Commissioner fella?" asked Toji, looking around with a beleaguered expression. "I mean...we haven't even found anyone alive, yet."

"Probably because after they got overrun by whatever this is, they focussed on trying to get out of this strange anomaly," hypothesized Kensuke, fiddling with his new crossbow. "Depends on how long the fog has been around...but it can't have been more than a day or two, right?"

"Either that, or trying to keep the city's Cognitive Protection Center from falling," murmured Ryuji. "...let's just keep going." Grimacing, he used the stairwell railing as support so his gun-cane could be held at the ready; the elevators had all been without power, and some of the stairwells had been too badly damaged to ascend beyond a certain level. Peering through the haze, he said, "I think...we might be able to take this one to the top."

The trio of Persona-users continued onward, eventually reaching the twentieth floor; as before they burst into the hallway, drawing the attention of more Remnants: towers of rotating heads, a snake looping through Mars and Venus symbols, and fat, donut-eating cops(?) with a key dangling from the hollows in their torsos(?). Within sixty seconds, the premises were clear.

"It doesn't make sense," murmured Kensuke as Ryuji hobbled over towards a specific door. "Tokyo-2 is the heart of the government; not only was the country's A.T. Task Force headquartered here, but there had to be however many cognitive agents in the employ of the state; how could it fall to numbers like this?"

"Who's to say it wasn't worse before?" observed Toji. "If these things are based on the mind like sensei was sayin', then if there were more people...there would have been more of these things. Right? I mean, we've encountered at least a couple hundred just in this building; how many would there be when there were more people around?"

That had unsettling implications; Ryuji opted to ignore them, opening the door...and there was only devastation to be seen. Most of the office looked like a bomb had gone off around it...but what caught their attention immediately was the corpse lying against the wall, bearing the garb of an A.T. Agent. Their face was hidden by an old CRT television of all things, which had been smashed over their head...but it did nothing to hide the necktie with the yellow-and-orange checkerboard pattern. "...damn it. This is Morooka." (This month-long mission to be the babysitters for the Hakone kids had rapidly become one of the worst ever.)

Kensuke and Toji stared at the Commissioner's body anxiously. "What now?" asked Aida.

Ryuji felt, more than heard, the frightened breathing; glancing at Morooka's personal closet, he willed Seiten Taisei to open it up; out stumbled a mousy but familiar man. "...wait, Mishima?"

Morooka's secretary looked up, his face cast into an expression of wearied terror. "Oh...Sakamoto-san..." Looking around at the fog, his face curdled with anxiety. "...so it's not over..."

"Boys, watch the door. Make sure no monsters sneak in." As Kensuke and Toji set about their task, Ryuji knelt down with a pained grimace, wincing from the ache in his bad leg. "Mishima-san...you're the first person with the Task Force that we've seen alive. What happened?"

Gulping, the man nervously fiddled with the rectangular object in his hands. "I...what day is it...?" When told that it was the 21st, Yuuki Mishima audibly gulped. "Ah...no wonder I feel hungry...and thirsty...it...it was the night of the 19th...and I was telling the Commissioner about an incident from Kyushu involving a rogue Shadow, and he suddenly got real serious, and told me to send a message to all the Superintendents about something called Siberian Sunset, and then he told me to go home and-!"

"Mishima. Breathe." Siberian Sunset? As one of the old-timers, Ryuji knew exactly what that term referred to. What could have prompted you to break operational security regarding the Great Northern Tower...? "And?" Reaching into his trusty rucksack, Ryuji handed Mishima a soda can labelled 'SECRET SAUCE OF HEALING'. "Drink up."

The tired man greedily popped the top and downed the contents in a matter of seconds; even before he finished, life returned to Mishima's eyes. "...wow. Thanks, Sakamoto-san-"

"Don't mention. Make with the answers, yeah?"

"Oh. Right. Well...I was worried, because the Commissioner's behavior was unusual. He got real serious all of a sudden...so I followed him back to his office. But when I opened the door, I was swallowed by this yellow fog...and when I opened my eyes, I saw him fighting someone else. Another Persona-user."

"Who was it?"

"...I think this will explain," murmured Mishima, holding up a rectangular VHS tape. "It...it was given to me by...the guy who did it."

...so he left Mishima to be the messenger. "Sounds like a lovely guy," he muttered with heavy sarcasm. "How are we supposed to watch it?"

With a shaky finger, Mishima pointed to the remnants of Morooka's desk; strangely, a tiny VCR-television combo was sitting there. "The killer...he left it there when he finished..."

Grimacing, Ryuji swiped the tape from the rattled secretary, hobbling over to the unusual television set. Despite the fact that there was no power cord, whatever lingering cognition had spawned it served to provide sufficient power; one touch of the power button sufficed to bring forth a screen of static. Let's see who the murderer is, thought Ryuji with vindictive venom, sliding the tape inside. After some mechanical clicking, the old telltale sound of magnetic tape turning coincided with the static fading to a plain blue screen; the 'play' icon flashed a few times before the blue background gave way to a fuzzy image of a man standing amidst the fog. The face...?!

"Hey now," said the man on the TV screen, patting the cameraman with an easygoing grin. "There's no need to be nervous! You got keep it steady, or else the picture will be bad."

...ah hell, it's Tohru Adachi. Just like that, the motive for Siberian Sunset became plain as day. How did he get free?!

The TV showed Adachi stepping back, allowing the camera to see more of Morooka's office; in the background, the image of Magatsu-Izanagi (damn, how long has it been since you've seen his Persona?) standing atop Leviathan triumphantly. The demonic crocodile was cut all over, bearing numerous electric burns; to add insult on top of injury, Magatsu-Izanagi's naginata was embedded into the reptile's hardy snout. "Okay, now, for the important part..."

Off-screen, a tired voice growled, "Mishima...turn that damn camera off..."

Without warning, Adachi was by the cameraman's — Mishima's — side, sticking his face by the camera; the slight turn showed the left side of his face, revealing a blood trail going down from a cut on his forehead. The overall effect was rather unnerving. "Ah, come on...he came all the way back just to see you in action, it would be mean to send him off!" The nervous whimpers from the cameraman elicited an audible wince from Mishima (not that Ryuji could blame him; it was never fun having your weakness paraded on film). "Now..." Adachi walked towards the wall; the camera panned over, showing Morooka slumped against the wall. "Not a bad fight, all things considered."

Kinshiro Morooka looked up with an angry glare; his dark Agent wardrobe hid bloodstains, but the cuts in his limbs were impossible to ignore. It was taking visible effort for the gonkish man to even lift his head (which hurt, on some deep level; for so long, Morooka had been considered untouchable). "Whaddya want...a prize...?"

"Nothing you could offer me," answered Adachi, sticking his hands into his pockets. "That prison was a bit boring, you know? Being one of the few people who was actually imprisoned there in actuality."

"You're a Persona-user...couldn't exactly stow away your Shadow when you'd already accepted it..."

Adachi chuckled. "By that logic, I could have been thrown away into a normal jail until it was time for my execution. You just wanted everyone to forget me, because I was pretty inconvenient."

"...when you murder Shadows...hide the fact...and then pretend to be some paragon of justice when signing up for the A.T. Task Force...and then kill your fellow Agents after losin' your shit...you can hardly blame us."

Adachi's tiny little grin was a wicked thing to behold. "Eh, slight problem, oldtimer: I confessed to those first murders only after I got caught. You didn't have shit on me."

"...it always bugged me...so why?"

"Because I had lost the 'game'. As the winners, you were free to do with me as you pleased; if that meant spending the rest of my life in some dark little corner of the Metaverse, so be it. But...thanks to those pissants in Strega, I'm a free man. And boy, have I been waiting for a time like this!"

Ryuji growled. Strega...ah shit.

(August the 9th. Following the battle against Sho Minazuki in Okayama, he had gotten a debrief from all of the kids involved. When Shinji asked why he was so angry, his response had been blunt: for Takaya Sakaki and Jin Shirato to warn about a terrorist attack in Okayama, only to let some other kid show up in their place? The whole thing smelled rotten.)

The possibility was all too probable, in Ryuji's mind. If Strega somehow attacked the Great Northern Tower...that would explain how Adachi got free and why Morooka invoked Siberian Sunset...but why is Adachi talking like he's not with Strega...?

Morooka snarled, spitting out a globule of dark blood. "Damn psychopath. If it's all just a game to you, why aren't you working with Strega?"

Adachi flashed a smile towards the camera. "Because their game is boring. I've got something much more...personal, in mind." (That emphasis sent a chill up Ryuji's spine.) "That's just the way I've decided to roll."

"You're...in the heart of the government...you think this stunt will go unnoticed...?"

Gesturing up into the air, Adachi pointed towards something offscreen; the camera followed, revealing a yellow eye with a green iris and crimson pupil. Even before it faded away into the yellow fog, Adachi said, "thanks to my 'patron', this city will be too busy dealing with this little bout of fog to think about me. Kind of crazy to think about what can happen while you're stuck in a life-or-death battle, eh?"

A 'patron'? What does he mean by that? Looking up, Ryuji noticed that no such eye was visible anymore. The fog's still present though...did that eye transfer somewhere else...?

Morooka huffed, looking decidedly unimpressed. "Just another asshole...that's all you are...and this little snuff film of yours is only going to piss people off."

"Funny that you even know what a snuff film is supposed to be," darkly joked Adachi, raising a small television set (wait, where did that come from?) above his head. "Anyhow...that's the point, Commissioner. I'm counting on it." Then, with no flair whatsoever, Adachi brutally smashed the television over Morooka's head.

(At that moment, Ryuji resolved to kick Adachi's ass.)

Mishima's pained whimper was echoed by his cry of despair on the videotape; with very little in the way of reflection, Adachi suddenly stomped towards the camera. "W-W-What are you going to do w-with me?!" yelped the Mishima behind the camera; there was a sound of audible shuffling and struggling, before the viewer's point of view showed Mishima being thrown into the closet.

Adachi, now being the cameraman, jokingly said, "So...I'm not exactly sure what to do with you, and I honestly don't care. If you wanna try braving the cognitive monsters prowling outside, that's a perfectly valid option! Or you could just hide in here and hope that nothing finds you...either way, you're probably gonna die sooner rather than later...anyhow, good luck with that!" The door was slammed shut; the last thing heard was a satisfied sigh from Adachi before the video came to a stop.

"...who was that?" Ryuji and Mishima turned around; Ozymandias and Gilgamesh were at the door, allowing Kensuke and Toji to watch the video from a closer vantage point. Suzuhara continued his question with "Who killed your boss?"

"...an old A.T. Agent by the name of Tohru Adachi," admitted Ryuji.

Kensuke's eyes widened. "The...the Smiling Traitor...?"

Ryuji snorted. "Figures a Task Force nerd like you would know the story. But we can swap stories later." Looking back at Yuuki Mishima, Ryuji asked, "Mishima, have you tried leaving at all?"

"...no," he admitted with some shame, his eyes falling towards the corpse of Morooka. "I...the Commissioner gave me a task to complete. And I haven't done it yet...so I wasn't going to risk dying. Not like I have a Persona of my own...so I hoped that backup would eventually arrive..."

Toji winced. "Yeah...for the time being, we're probably it."

"...let's get Mishima out first, then try and regroup with the others." Everything had just become a lot more complicated, as if his life wasn't enough of a headache. Damn it Morooka...you just had to kick the bucket, didn't you? This sucks. The Angels, Strega, the Minako girl that had murdered Ken and Junpei, and now Adachi? What the hell is happening...?

xxxx

Certain anomalies had always been more enticing than others.

Even without the intentions and will of its master to guide it, that instinct remained.

That much would be true, even if the One Who Sat Upon the Throne was preoccupied with Minako's struggle against Phanuel.

The fog that had enveloped Tokyo-2 was no exception.

Thus, with a delighted hiss and the rattling of chains, the Reaper slowly made its way to the desecrated capital of Japan.

xxxx

TO BE CONTINUED

xxxx

Author's Note: Splitting this day up, because it felt like a good spot.

Brief recap:

- Aw, Sokila unleashed her first Megido. :D
- The gang's finally left Nishiawakura for the time being.
- Shinji fused new weapons for his teammates Kensuke and Toji! Also, finally answering HEROD's last question that's been pending for...a couple of months IRL.
- He also has an unexpected encounter with Adachi. Not that he realized this.
- Poor Rei needs all the hugs. (Sojiro continues to be the best.)
- Tokyo-2...got screwed over bigly.
- "Wayfarer's Survey of the Stars" is a reference to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Likewise the "Not My Problem" Field is a reference to the "Somebody Else's Problem" Field from the same work.
- Joker's off to rescue a Confidant who's *not* Mishima. Who could it be...?
- Mana finally reunites with her brothers. It's not as heartwarming as she was hoping for. :(
- From Greek mythology: Phobos is the god and embodiment of fear and panic, and Deimos is likewise the same for dread and terror; but most importantly of all, they're *brothers*.
- RIP Kinshiro Morooka. You went out cussing out Adachi, which is a fine way to go.
- oh hi the Reaper wants to play too this won't end badly at all